{"id":1230,"date":"2026-07-30T06:08:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2026-07-30T06:08:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:08:42","slug":"honda-oks-the-death-of-the-stick-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1230","title":{"rendered":"Honda OKs the Death of the Stick Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"
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H<\/span>onda just let it slip that the Civic Si (and its Acura-badged fraternal twin, the Integra A-Spec) will soon be automatic-only, like pretty much everything else.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDue to\u00a0evolving business conditions<\/i>, production of the 1.5-liter turbocharged engine paired to the 6-speed manual transmission (6MT) will be\u00a0paused<\/i>\u00a0at the conclusion of the 2026 model year,\u201d reads a statement.<\/p>\n

Italics added.<\/p>\n

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The manual-equipped Si was among the last holdouts \u2026 , probably because even if most people bought the automatic, the availability of the manual gave it a \u2018halo.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cEvolving business conditions\u201d is Honda\u2019s way of politely saying government regulations. Manual transmissions can\u2019t be programmed to shift at the same ideal moment for scoring high on government fuel efficiency and emissions tests as automatics; in fact, they can\u2019t be programmed at all. They are thus an uncontrolled variable \u2014 kind of like the individual. Individual variability is always regarded with the ol\u2019 fish eye by the government precisely because it\u2019s not under the government\u2019s control. So the government emits regs that (effectively) punish that individual variability and reward uniformity.<\/p>\n

This goes far beyond the disappearance of the manual transmission. New vehicles are becoming increasingly uniform in appearance as well, because individual variation in design is constrained by government safety regulations that function as a kind of hidden template. The result is that the cumulative effect of these rules is a fleet of vehicles that seem, almost inevitably, to have been designed to look alike.<\/p>\n

Honda is also uncertain what the regs will be in the future \u2014 come 2027 \u2014 and it\u2019s hard to set up \u201ccertain low-volume powertrain combinations\u201d to comply with regs without knowing what compliance will require. \u201cAlthough EPA has indicated its intent to revise the applicable standards, the final requirements have not yet been established,\u201d Honda says. \u201cAccordingly, Honda is maintaining its current production plans at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning,\u00a0sayonara<\/i>\u00a0sticks.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s also true there\u2019s not much demand for manual-equipped vehicles anymore \u2014 but it can be credibly argued this is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy; the result of so few manual-equipped new vehicles being available. People who never learn to drive stick are probably going to stick with automatic-equipped vehicles because that\u2019s all they know how to drive. More specifically, because people tend to buy cars because they need to drive places, and what good is a car they\u2019re not able to drive? It\u2019s true they could learn \u2014 but how? On a brand-new car?<\/p>\n

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It was once true that most (or at least, a lot) of teenagers learned to drive a stick because the kinds of cars most teenagers had access to were economy cars and these always came standard with a stick. But economy cars no longer exist. Not in the new car market \u2014 and not for at least the past decade. They have been replaced by entry-level<\/i> cars, all of which come standard with automatics (as well as AC, power windows, and locks). So \u2014 for at least the past decade \u2014 most new drivers learn to drive in an automatic car and for that reason never learn to drive a stick. The potential market for stick cars grows smaller and smaller.<\/p>\n

In a very strange turn of events, the\u00a0standard<\/i> transmission \u2014 as manuals were once called, because that\u2019s just what they usually were \u2014 has become a kind of luxury feature, by dint of being (typically) an option that\u2019s often only available with an expensive trim. As a for-instance, the 2026 Toyota Tacoma I wrote about a couple of weeks ago is the only mid-size truck that even offers a manual and this option is only available in the TRD Sport with 4WD, which lists for $40,315 to start \u2014 or about $8k more than the base SR Taco. They\u2019re also hard to find in inventory; you generally have to order (and wait for) one if you want the manual.<\/p>\n

The Mazda Miata is pretty much the last new car that isn\u2019t a very expensive car that still comes standard with a manual.<\/p>\n

Cars like the Civic used to come standard with them \u2014 and not just the high-performance Si variant. Now the Civic comes standard with a CVT automatic, like most of the other once-economy cars. The manual-equipped Si was among the last holdouts, probably because even if most people bought the automatic, the availability of the manual gave it a halo,<\/i> as they say in the car-selling business.<\/p>\n

Now, Honda says this is not a cancellation but a\u00a0pause \u2014<\/i> implying that the manual will return at some point in the future. But nothing specific has been said about that, which (to a cynic) suggests the \u201cpause\u201d will become permanent absent a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth sufficient to get Honda to reconsider. In either case, it\u2019s likely to mean that the remaining inventory of manual-equipped 2026 Civics and Integras are going to cost more because dealers will be able to charge more now that the word is out that Honda won\u2019t be making any more manual-equipped Civics or Integras (for this market, at least) after the end of this year.<\/p>\n

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